Tacit Mutatio
by GirlWaterShaman
Summary: A good 80 years after Tinkerbell's adventures with Lizzie, a writing talent arrives in Pixie Hollow. A fic about cultural change as much as a story about fairies. Includes the Seelie and Unseelie Courts later on.
1. Chapter 1

A good 80 years since Peter Pan and Tinkerbell met Wendy & her brothers, and even longer since Tinkerbell arrived at Pixie Hollow, a tiny baby was born in Queens. She and her sororal twin were clinging to life, surrounded by other babies like them. Babies that had arrived too early. This baby-whose name was Mary Elizabeth-was still alive three months later as the hospital was decorated for Thanksgiving. Her sister Sheila Jane was in an incubator nearby.  
>Today, she was being visited by her parents, John and Sabrina, while her older brother John Jr. stayed at home with a babysitter. A smile spread across her little face as her parents appeared in her vision, smiling down at her. Mary's father smiled warmly as her mother talked softly. The baby opened her mouth and laughed. But unlike any other infant's laugh, this one was silent. Due to the baby's throat problems, her one remainig vocal cord was still too fragile to make sounds. Even so, there was energy from the laugh.<br>As little Mary was entertained and loved by her parents, the power from her laugh made it outside. In the grass near the hospital parking lot, a dandelion-one of the last remaining this year-was about to release its seeds. As a wind blew, the seeds flew into the air. One was struck with the laugh and, thusly, moved in a different direction than the other seeds. It moved past the clouds, heading towards the stars. Magic prompted it to go to the second star to the right, continuing until morning.  
>Meanwhile in Pixie Hollow, Vidia was bored. She was on seed watch duty. But most of the time, it was watching the outskirts of Neverland for hours until another fast-flyer relieved her of duty.<br>'Ugh, this is so boring...'  
>The purple-clad fairy perked up upon seeing a single dandelion seed floating in the air. Vidia used wind to keep it afloat, calling to the other fairies &amp; sparrowmen nearby.<br>"We got a live one!"  
>Soon, fairies from all over Pixie Hollow gathered at the Great Tree. It had been several months since the last arrival, Moira-an ecology talent-and the Hollow's residents were all too eager to welcome a new member to their family.<br>When Vidia guided the dandelion seed to the Tree's main, huge courtyard, she wasn't surprised to see that almost all of the Hollow's 50,000 residents were already there. She could see Terence-now not the only pixie dust talent-bringing the obligatory cup of magical dust over. He poured it onto the seed and a soft golden glow enveloped it.  
>And then the female faerie newborn opened her eyes.<p> 


	2. Chapter 2

**The brown haired fairie sat up, blinking and rubbing her lighter brown eyes.**

A small, slightly confused smile appeared on her face as a chorus of greetings rose around her. She looked around. The newborn was near a huge tree which had golden light shining from within. And around her were fairies. Boys and girls alike-there were so many!-though she noticed there were a signifant different between the boys and girls. Then the white-clothed fairie started when she heard another voice behind her.

"Born of laughter, clothed in cheer, happiness has brought you here."

The newborn turned to see a crowned faerie in gold smiling down at her. This was obviously the ruler of this place, wherever this place was. She tilted her head in confusion as the Queen walked to her.

"Here, let's get your wings up."

The new faerie watched as suddenly a beautiful pair of wings lifted from her back. She was about to gasp in astonishment when she felt a hand take hers. Queen Clarion-for this was the royal's name judging by the other faeries whispers-lifted her gently into the air. And then...she was *flying*. Her smile grew wide as she flew in a circle before landing carefully-albeit not very gracefully-onto the solid wood.

Queen Clarion waved her hand, and 20 or so mushrooms sprouted around the new faerie in a circle. She looked back at the queen in confusion.  
>"You have to discover your talent before going to your new home, little one."<p>

The new faerie nodded briefly, watching as a faerie from each group flew to the courtyard, placing an object on each one. She turned in a circle, looking at each object. A snowflake, a bubble, an egg, a roll of bandages, some kind of tool, a large book...

"It's alright; take your time."

The creamy cocoa skinned faerie closed her eyes and took in a deep breath before opening them again. She approached the nearest mushroom, a flame floating in the air above it. But as she reached out, the fire went out. In front of it, a group of faeries & sparrowmen in red looked at her in slight disappointment. She shrugged, turning to a mushroom that had a hammer and a pile of nuts & bolts floating above it. That didn't react to her either. Then she approached one where pure shadow seemed to reside. There were only two members of this group-two male sparrowmen in black. However, they looked at her encouragingly and the new faerie felt a bit hopeful as she reached out. But the shadow dissipated and she sighed.

One by one, she tried each talent. Now there were only three left. The egg, the bubble, and a pen. The first two had large groups, but the last...the last only had one faerie-an older, kindly looking female that for some reason made her heart ache. She walked past the egg and bubble-ignoring the slight reactions from them-as she stretched her arm out towards the pen. It glowed brightly, flying into her hand. When it touched her skin, the flash of light temporarily blinded everyone.

The writing talent turned back to Queen Clarion, clutching the pen to her chest.

"Everyone...meet the newest writing talent. Laila!"

Around her, the faeries began clapping and Laila blushed. Finally gathering enough courage, she opened her mouth to  
>speak.<p>

Nothing came out. She tried again-but still nothing. Confused and afraid, she raised a small hand to her neck, her brow furrowing upon feeling the slightly rougher, wrinkled skin there. Like there was a scar. Around her, the faeries & sparrowmen muttered. Apparently this wasn't a common occurrence. Laila looked at the queen, a sad and worried look in her brown eyes.  
>Queen Clarion smiled in encouragement and placed a hand on her shoulder.<p>

"Don't worry. You'll do fine. And you're a writing talent; I'm sure you'll figure something out."

Laila nodded even though she was still quite concerned. The royal faerie left in a flash of light and the majority of the pixies around her began to disperse. The motherly-looking faerie from before-the one who had placed her pen on the mushroom stand-was fluttering towards her, a huge smile on her pretty face.

"Hello, Laila! My name's-oh!"

Laila had reached out, hugging the taller faerie tightly. The older faerie looked startled for a moment but then her face softened when she felt wetness on her shoulder.

"There, there...it's alright. We'll find your voice."

Laila looked up at her new mentor, obviously wondering how they'd do that.

"You have a voice. Even if you can't make a sound, you have a voice. Trust me."

Laila hesitantly nodded, then let go as an embarassed blush graced her cheeks.

"Now...my name is Rhoslyn. I've been here a little over 25 years and I'm just grateful I'm not the only writing talent anymore. Come on, I'll show you your new home."  
>Hope-a fragile, bright hope-began to shine in Laila's chest as she took Rhoslyn's hand.<p> 


	3. Chapter 3

Laila followed Rhoslyn as she led her to the Writing-Talent's Workshop.

Seeing as they were the only two writer fairies, they had a small workshop. It was located on a tree branch-as almost all the fairy buildings were-and a path led from it to where the storyteller talents and art talents resided. Rhoslyn smiled at her new apprentice and motioned for her to follow her into the workshop. It smelt like paper-leaves and berry-ink. Laila found that she rather liked it.  
>There was a large desk in the middle of the room, covered in half-finished books. On one way were cubby-holes filled with different colored stacks of dyed paper-leaves and book-making supplies. A smaller desk sat in the corner of the room. Rhoslyn flew over to it and wiped off the dust.<br>"This'll be your desk."  
>She pulled it so that it was next to the large desk in the middle then put a mushroom chair behind it. Laila floated over to the desk. It looked a bit old, but it would do. She looked towards Rhoslyn. The older fairie was already waiting by a door nearby. Laila got up from her desk and quickly joined her.<br>Rhoslyn opened the door. It led to a set of mushroom stairs. Rhoslyn walked up first, and Laila followed.  
>"Up here are where our bedrooms are."<br>There were three smaller doors at the top of the tree. One had Rhoslyn's name etched on it. The other two doors were bare.  
>"Here's your room. Sorry it's a bit plain. You can decorate it later."<br>Laila fluttered into the small room. There was a bed in one corner. A desk stood against one wall, a mushroom chair next to it. The new fairie also noticed a wardrobe made of what looked like driftwood. She sniffed it and smiled. The scent somehow reminded her of the ocean though she'd never seen it before.  
>Laila saw a small window over the desk. Curious, she flew up slightly to look. Her mouth drew in air as she silently gasped. A lovely view of the plant-talent's fairies area was in front of Laila's eyes. She smiled widely, turning back to Rhoslyn. The older fairie was smiling at her.<br>"I didn't take the window room because I was waiting for the next writing-talent. I waited awhile but hey, you finally came."  
>Laila smiled back, nodding.<br>"Well," Rhoslyn continued as she yawned, "It's late. We both have a big day tomorrow."  
>She turned to leave but then turned around.<br>"Oh," she said as she pointed to the desk, "The scissors, needle and thread is for altering your clothes in case they're too big. See you tomorrow."  
>Laila nodded before Rhoslyn closed the door. The mute fairie looked back out the window, grinning again as she beheld the flowers in bloom. They were so pretty. She wasn't feeling very tired yet either. So Laila went to open her closet, ready to check out her clothes.<p> 


	4. Chapter 4

The next morning, Laila woke up to Rhoslyn knocking on her door. The writing-talent quickly sat up, dismayed that she'd slept in. Or so she thought. Upon looking out her window, Laila saw that it was just past dawn. Sighing silently in relief, she got up. Laila opened the door a crack, smiling shyly up at Rhoslyn.

"Good morning, Laila. There's still a few more hours before our day's work will start but I figured I should wake you up early. You can eat breakfast in peace instead of during the morning rush." 

The older faerie rolled her eyes good humoredly and was about to float away when she noticed Laila's closet filled with altered clothes. 

"Oh, so you took my advice!" 

Rhoslyn flew in, going to examine said clothes. Laila watched her a bit bemused, watching as her mentor pulled out a cute blue and brown blouse & flower-petal skirt combo. 

"You should wear this today!" 

Laila would've giggled if she could, but just smiled and nodded as Rhoslyn continued looking through her closet. Nodding in approval, Rhoslyn smiled at her apprentice. 

"Come on, let's get us some food." 

The two faeries made their way to the dining area in Pixie Hollow. It was very large and could easily hold at least a thousand faeries & sparrow men comfortably. Laila's eyes were wide only for a moment before her stomach grumbled, causing her to blush in embarrassment. Rhoslyn just smiled and took her to the pile of clean trays nearby, handing her one. 

The dining area was mostly empty this time of day, the only other occupants being the food-talents and a few early risers of various talents. 

The two writing faeries ate at a leisurely pace, Rhoslyn explaining their duties as they ate.  
>"You see, we writing talents are important. Our job is to keep the storytelling-talents' stories safe by writing them down. And we also help humans on the mainland by giving them inspiration when they need it, whether they're writing for business or pleasure. Understand?" <p>

Laila nodded after a moment as she finished her meal. Rhoslyn continued talking as they put their trays in a bin. 

"Most of our day is spent in the workshop though. I'll show you how to make and repair books-which is a large part of our job-and if there's time, show you where the storytelling and art talents live. We work with them the most, the former for obvious reasons. The art talents often illustrate the books we make so we'll see them a lot too. Same with the tinkers because we both make things. Got it?" 

Laila nodded again, growing excited. Rhoslyn smiled as they flew back to their workshop.  
>"Well, let's get started."<p> 


End file.
